The Canadiens told Gomez, who has two seasons left on a seven-year, $51.5 million contract, to stay home on Sunday, GM Marc Bergevin announced. Montreal's plan is to not play Gomez at all this season, and then buy out the final year of his contract in the summer under the new collective bargaining agreement's amnesty provision, which would free them of his $7.36 million salary cap hit.

Scott Gomez likely has played his last game for the Montreal Canadiens. (AP Photo)

Gomez, 33, will collect his $5.5 million prorated salary this season, and then see the remaining $4.5 million bought out, which means that two-thirds of that money will be spread over two years.

The Canadiens' big issue is the salary cap, which will drop to about $64 million from more than $70 million. Gomez's deal has been a disaster for several years now. He has nine goals in the past two seasons combined, which included a yearlong goal drought, and hasn't finished with more than 16 since 2006.

Gomez initially signed the deal with the New York Rangers, who traded him to the Habs in 2009 for a return that included young star defenseman Ryan McDonagh, which is reason enough for Montreal fans to regret the whole situation, regardless of cap hits and goal droughts.

Gomez spent the NHL lockout with the ECHL's Alaska Aces and has six goals and seven assists in 11 games. He also won a new, $50,000 Acura MD X in July when he hit a hole-in-one at his own Scotty Gomez Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament in Anchorage. Plus, he has several million dollars on the way.